A 24-year-old man was charged Tuesday for allegedly punching a police officer during a demonstration in Mid-City, marking the first person L.A. prosecutors have charged in the series of protests against the verdict in the George Zimmerman trial, prosecutors said. Brandon Bell, of Los Angeles, faces one count each of battery on a police officer, disobeying the orders of a police officer and resisting arrest, the L.A. city attorney's office said. If convicted on all counts, Bell could face up to two years in jail.

As small groups of rogue protesters wreaked havoc along Crenshaw Boulevard on Monday night following a George Zimmerman verdict protest, some within the demonstration tried to warn potential victims. City Terrace resident Cuauhtemoc Negrete said he was told: "You better blend in or you're going to get hurt. " The group eventually approached him, someone punched him in the head and another person stole his bicycle. Police estimated that about 150 people took part in the violence after the peaceful vigil at Leimert Park following a Florida jury's Saturday acquittal of Zimmerman, 29, on charges of second-degree murder and manslaughter in last year's shooting death of unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin . “I figured with all the evidence [Zimmerman]

CAIRO - With the Obama administration facing recriminations across Egypt for its response to the July 3 military coup, a top U.S. diplomat began a two-day visit to Cairo on Monday to press for a halt to violence and a swift transition to a new democratic government. Deputy Secretary of State William J. Burns, the first senior U.S. official to visit since the coup, met with Egypt's military-backed interim leaders as demonstrators held another large rally on the other side of the city demanding the reinstatement of ousted President Mohamed Morsi.

Demonstrators protesting Trayvon Martin's death amassed in New York City's Times Square on Sunday night after marching about two miles from an earlier rally at Union Square. As tourists looked on, the protesters chanted: “What do we want?” “Justice!” “When do we want it?” “Now!” The demonstration was one of many in major U.S. cities Sunday after George Zimmerman was acquitted Saturday night of murdering Trayvon Martin in Florida. After a protest Saturday night in Oakland turned violent, Sunday's protests were peaceful.

People began gathering in Leimert Park on Saturday night to protest the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting of Trayvon Martin, according to police and social media reports. "We are getting reports that people are starting to gather," said LAPD Officer Phillip Ahn. "It's in its infancy. " Ahn said police units have been dispatched to the scene "to stand by. " He did not have an estimate of how many people were there. Twitter users were posting about the demonstration Saturday night in the historically black neighborhood.

Capping weeks of divisive protests and political drama, the Texas Senate approved one of the nation's strictest abortion bills in a 19-11 vote, following earlier approval by the state House. The bill now goes to the desk of Gov. Rick Perry, who has pledged to sign it. Passage came during a session that stretched to midnight in the state Capitol in Austin. Before the vote, watched by activists from both sides, lawmakers offered emotional remarks inflected in many cases with religious references.

CAIRO - Anas Mahfous heard the first shot and ran - toward the gunfire, not away. The 20-year-old Egyptian dental student was kneeling in prayer Monday morning next to his father and three brothers at a makeshift camp in Rabaa, a Muslim Brotherhood stronghold in Cairo. The family was among thousands participating in a sit-in to demand the reinstatement of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi, ousted last week in a military coup. Mahfous wasn't an Islamist ideologue and he didn't see himself as a hero, friends say. He was just a normal, good-natured guy - boyish-looking and clean-shaven in his government ID card.

CAIRO -- More than two years after they overthrew the Mubarak regime through popular protests, many Egyptians think large, noisy demonstrations are as important as the ballot box in determining the democratic will of the people. So it's not surprising that the two camps now fighting over Egypt's future did their best Sunday to bring out supporters in large numbers, one side to support ousted Islamist President Mohamed Morsi and the other side to celebrate his removal from office.

CAIRO - At least one demonstrator was killed Friday in clashes between supporters of Egypt's ousted president, Mohamed Morsi, and security forces outside the headquarters of the Republican Guard, news reports said. An ambulance medic said he saw several people dead of gunshot wounds but couldn't confirm the number. Video images captured at the scene showed a demonstrator in a gray T-shirt run up to a barbed-wire fence surrounding the Republican Guard facility were Morsi was reported to be under military arrest and then collapse in a heap after shots were fired.

President Obama's trip through sub-Saharan Africa this week appropriately elevates the region's prominence in the administration's pantheon of foreign policy priorities. Obama is using the tour to promote African democracies, encourage trade and appeal to young people - and, importantly, to dispel the criticism that his presidency has been so preoccupied with other parts of the world that it has given Africa short shrift. As he visits Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania, Obama has the opportunity to highlight some of the region's more vexing social and geopolitical issues.